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Thursday, 23 June 2011

One Man' s Opinion: SPEEDLOADER

The first thing I need to do here is to declare some self-interest. I've written one of the stories in this book. I have a huge respect for the publishers and I love short fiction. I want Speedloader to sell in huge numbers. With that out of the way, I'd like to offer my opinion of this collection.

The opening story is my own.It’s a tale set in World

War 1 and the years of its aftermath.The intention

of the story was to look at the large scale crimes and

the individual stories of the war in a compare and

contrast kind of way.I hope I managed to achieve

some of that.

WD County was billed as a newcomer on the

Speedloader Press release.If I hadn’t seen him in

the list of email addresses or read his bio, I’d have

sworn it was some big-time author writing under a

pseudonym.Some big time author like Stephen King,

perhaps.His story blew me away.Apparently he’s

working on a debut novel called ‘Sammi and the

Therapist’ and I can tell you now that I’m at the head

of the queue for getting hold of a copy.

WD touches on a subject that is a taboo to many.A

group of boys is held captive by a couple of sick

individuals who use them for sex, entertainment and

profit.The author deals with the whole thing

masterfully, not flinching from the horror of what

takes place yet introducing a subtlety that keeps it

entirely in focus from start to finish.The ‘Plastic

Soldiers’ title refers to the platoon the main

character, one of the young hostages, keeps in his

pocket.To help him through the ordeal, his mind has

turned the soldiers into living, breathing and talking

entities who shore up his courage and remind him of

his responsibilities.

There’s something of the structure of the work that

had me thinking of Tim O’Brien’s ‘The Things They

Carried’.That could just be me being fanciful, but I

really think it’s a piece of writing that is to be admired

for a hatful of reasons.

Read it here and you’ll be able to say you were on at

the ground floor.

Matthew C Funk is anything but a newcomer.He’s

impressed me with everything I’ve seen from him to

date.No surprise that I was bowled over by his work.

‘Cuffs’ is a marvellous piece of storytelling.Driver,happy man, is pulled over by a cop.The cop’s a crazed lune- for a while he seems so spectral I thought we might be in ghost story territory.It begins badly for our driver.It gets worse.It’s the kind of dark tale that would grace any campfire and, having read this and ‘Plastic Soldiers’ I was beginning to wonder how on earth I got into the anthology at all.Another A+ Mr Funk.

The next night, having recovered from the exhaustion

of such quality reads, I continued with Nik Corpon’s

Mori Obscura.Surely there was going to be a dip in

quality somewhere.

I should have known better.

‘Mori Obscura’ is another tale that has the edge of horror to it, yet

it’s entirely human and touching.

Our protagonist is a photographer for ‘The Sun’ doing some

undercover work in a boarded up slum house where junkies shoot-

up and pass their lives away.Thing is our main man is also an ex-

addict.The smells and sights are those from Heaven and Hell and

as he ventures into this micro-world, he is to be faces with a

decision he’s not going to find easy to make.Loved it.I felt like I

was actually there on the scene, in need of a shower and a scrubbing brush.It feels dingy and low and the photographer’s emotions are all too easy to understand.

‘Herniated Roots’ by Richard Thomas.What can I say, the man’s a

genius (where did Snubnose find so many in the one go?).

This one rang a little too true for me at times.I’ve not had a drink

for 6 years.Neither has Michael.

Michael’s been getting on with his life without alcohol by going

through the motions of work and sleep.Needless to say, it feels to

him like he’s had something cut out from him, his heart perhaps or

whatever it was that made him who he was.

It’s Michael’s shell that we meet as he shops in a local

supermarket.He’s approached by a woman.Nothing in her basked

suggests danger, the body lotion, avocados, banana, olive oil, dark

chocolate and small honey bear.Maybe the snake tattoo around her wrist should have been a warning.As you can imagine, there’s a sexual chemistry between them and it leads to a dilemma for our

alcoholic.Should he follow his instincts and leave well alone or

dive in head-first and find an organ transplant for whatever it was

way back when. This one starts gently, but pressure is gradually applied until it starts to hurt.Shades of ‘Leaving Las Vegas’ and more touches of brilliance.

One more story to go, I was ready for a rest.

Instead I went on.

‘Crash And Burn’ by Jonathan Woods is bafflingly good.It’s the

longest piece here and it’s fantastic.

It’s set around the Amer-Mex Anti-Drug Taskforce Southwest

(DRAMA) as they make war on Mexican cartels.The story is

divided into sixteen sections which come together outrageously to

form a glorious whole.

There’s a bit of everything:sex, violence, bombs, car crashes,

political intrigue, booze, crabs and sunshine.

As I read this I had the feeling that there was something familiar

about the voice.I ran through it and played with it like a

connoisseur might do in trying to identify a fine wine.I have

neither the breadth of experience or the memory to be able to do

that, but I can point at the flavours I think I caught – Kurt

Vonnegut, Joseph Heller, Gabriel Garcia Marquez played at 45

instead of 33 (reaching) and something European (who knows?).

It’s a terrific work, weaving lives together like a master of the

tweed.

Throw in a cover that has me purring and it has to be 5 stars.

There’s no choice.You’ll not be disappointed by any of these and

for the 99c price you’re getting a lot of talent on the cheap.

A final word for the editors. To put such a varied, consistently excellent collection such as this together, you deserve a round of applause. Can't wait for your next publication. And thanks for having me.